Resetting Your Gut Microbiome With Protein Foods

Choosing the right type of protein foods can play a major role in helping reset your gut microbiome for improved health and wellness. And here’s why.

When you properly select your protein source you can effectively address the 3 E’s to gut health. These 3 E’s are:

Eliminate Dysbiosis

Eliminate Inflammation

Eliminate Leaky Gut

And if your diet is lacking in protein, not only will you experience abdominal distress but you could also experience the following symptoms:

• Low energy levels

• Fatigue

• Moodiness

• Poor concentration

• Inability to properly regulate blood sugar levels, which can lead to diabetes

• Poor wound healing

• Sluggish metabolism

• Trouble building and maintaining muscle mass

• Bone and joint pain

• Trouble losing weight

• Trouble learning

• Low immune system response

• Hormonal imbalance

That’s a large list of health problems all associated with a diet lacking in the consumption of good protein foods.

What are Protein Foods

Proteins are long chains of amino acids. Amino acids are the foundation of all life processes. They are absolutely essential for every metabolic function that occurs in your body.

There are 20 amino acids that are needed to help your body function properly. These 20 are classified in two basic categories:

Essential – There are 9 of them, which our body can not make on its own. This means they must come from your diet.

Nonessential – The remaining 11 are placed in this category because our body can create them by converting other amino acids into these eleven. One of them is L-arginine, which is sometimes referred to as a “semi-essential” amino acid. This means our body can naturally produce L-arginine but not in quantities sufficient to fuel all the metabolic pathways it controls.

Protein foods would then be foods that contain these 20 amino acids. The best sources for getting all 20 amino acids at one time are:

Meat

Dairy

Eggs

Fish

And while plant sources usually have the 9 essential amino acids, the following sources would be considered complete protein foods as they contain all 20 amino acids:

Quinoa

Amaranth

Soybean

Buckwheat

Hempseed

Chia

Blue-Green Algae

Spirulina

Now the problem for most people is that they don’t consume enough protein on a daily basis. Or they don’t eat a variety of protein sources in the amounts needed to properly support their body. In my next post I’ll talk about the amount of daily protein you need to consume. For this post let’s examine the health benefits of protein foods.

What are the Health Benefits of Protein Foods

Let me start out by stating that vegetable proteins, eggs, and fish will have the greatest impact on helping to reset your gut microbiome for improved health and wellness. The consumption of these types of protein foods will also help to address the following health benefits:

Stabilize Blood Sugar

The glycemic index of a food plays a major role in determining blood sugar levels. The higher the glycemic index the higher your blood sugar will go up. Your body responds to this by secreting a hormone called insulin.

Insulin is needed for your body to metabolize carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. However, more insulin is needed for the metabolism of carbohydrates since their glycemic index is always higher than that of proteins and fats.

Additionally, eating foods with protein can also slow down the absorption of carbohydrates. This means you should have a good protein source for all your meals. Even when you have a snack.

Improve Your Mood

There are a couple of factors involved in mood swings. One is fluctuating blood sugar levels. And as we learned above good protein foods help to prevent this.

Certain amino acids are needed to naturally balance your hormonal levels. This then helps control your mood and can be a natural remedy for anxiety. Additionally, amino acids help to synthesize hormones like dopamine and serotonin that keep us calm and positive.

Brain Function and Learning

Building off of the information above amino acids are necessary for key enzymes involved cognitive function. Plus there are several studies that show how your brain needs a steady supply of amino acids to maintain concentration and focus for learning and coordination.

This means that breakfast is a key meal for both children and adults as it is the first meal of the day. Having a breakfast composed of good protein foods can make a significant difference in your cognitive function and mood in school and at work.

Weight Management

Protein plays two important roles in weight management. First, protein foods help you feel full and can prevent overeating. Calorie for calorie protein does a better job stabilizing blood sugar, which prevents cravings. And protein causes increased satiety, which then prevents overeating and snacking.

Second, when protein foods are properly broken down in your small intestine the needed amino acids can then be properly absorbed into your blood stream. These amino acids then help to maintain and/or build healthy muscle mass. This either maintains your metabolism or can increase your metabolism. Maintaining your metabolism helps you maintain your weight. Increasing your metabolism helps you loose weight.

Promote Longevity

There is a master antioxidant in your body called glutathione. Protein foods help to synthesize this “master antioxidant” which helps your body prevent oxidative stress that can lead to age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, liver disease, cancer, and viral inflections.

And as your body ages its capacity to synthesize the 11 nonessential amino acids decrease. Which means you need to be getting them from your diet.

This means your gut health is critical in your ability to breakdown protein foods into the needed amino acids.

Which brings us back to your gut microbiome and how important it is for all people at all ages.

Bottom line: Good protein foods are needed to reset your gut microbiome and enjoy improved health and wellness.

Blessing Lives Through Nitric Oxide Therapy!

Dan Hammer